(Toledo, OH) The Toledo plan commission will weigh in later this week on zoning restrictions for payday lenders.
A Toledo city council member is getting help from neighborhood and legal aid groups in a fight to regulate short-term lenders who offer quick loans at high interest rates.
While state law won't allow Ohio cities to directly regulate the practices of short-term lenders, cities like Toledo are free to implement zoning restrictions on such businesses. Payday lenders would only be allowed to open roughly half-a-mile from each other. The zoning restrictions would only allow one short-term lender per 30-thousand people in Toledo...or a maximum of nine, according to the current population.
Current short-term lenders would be grandfathered under the new regulations if they're adopted. So, as written, the new zoning code would essentially place a moratorium on any new short-term lenders in Toledo.